Biography

A native Floridian, I graduated from the University of Central Florida with a BA in Anthropology. I worked as a kindergarten teacher and a 9th grade English teacher in China before receiving a BA in Environmental Science from the University of Oklahoma. I moved to the Pacific Northwest to study the family dynamics of gibbons as part of the MS program in Primate Behavior and Ecology at Central Washington University. I currently live in Texas, working on my doctorate at the University of Texas at San Antonio in the Anthropology department. My current research focuses on how howler monkeys and humans interact and co-create the landscape in central Belize. I enjoy traveling and have been fortunate to work in Belize, China, the Gambia, Nicaragua, Peru, South Africa and Thailand. I spend my free time as a docent at the San Antonio Zoo, a storyteller and volunteer with Planned Parenthood and a sampler of the occasional local brewery.